Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to tell the hon. member who would pay. The Department of Human Resources Development and the minister would pay, because we would not fund that garbage any more. It would be gone and the benefits would go to Canadians of all stripes.
I am glad my friend across the way asked me the question. I would like to quote from a study done by Dale Orr of WEFA Inc. He is the fellow who chaired the finance minister's private sector economists and who prepared the documents for the fiscal and economic update in the fall. In talking about our proposals he said:
The tax reduction proposals...are well focused on the needs of Canadians today. They expand the economy, and most powerfully: personal disposable income, consumption and our standard of living. They create jobs. By lowering the marginal tax rates they are particularly effective in stimulating work effort, and stemming the brain drain and other productivity enhancing features. By powerfully reducing the level of personal income tax, particularly for Canadians of average and above average income, they are well directed at providing a more competitive tax environment in Canada relative to the U.S. They focus precisely and effectively on “bracket creep”, raising the basic personal exemption, particularly affecting the lowest income taxpayers, by much more than the rate of inflation: By eliminating the current 26% and 29% marginal tax rates, any bracket creep relating to these rates is eliminated. The issue of fairness is addressed, not only by the elimination of bracket creep, but by honouring the original policy intentions of the 5% “deficit reduction” surtax and reducing EI premiums to be consistent with EI policy....The tax reduction proposals of the Reform Party are affordable. If all of the tax reduction proposals are introduced as a combined package, over the 2000-01 to 2004-05 period, there would still be a fiscal surplus in each and every year.
That is what our plan would do.